Last-minute recipe for the Dada Thanksgiving feast

2of 2Woman crying over not being able to find darning eggs for Thanksgiving feast.Photo: HANDOUT, Special to The Chronicle

Happy Thanksgiving a day in advance, and special gratitude to Hans Gallas, who forwarded a Yale News treatise about Thanksgiving recipes of artists and literati. Man Ray submitted the following poultry-related recipe to the “Artist and Writers’ Cookbook”:

“Gather wooden darning eggs, one per person. If the variety without handles cannot be found, remove the handles. Pierce lengthwise so that skewers can be inserted in each darning egg. Lay the skewered eggs in an oblong or oval pan and cover with transparent cellophane.”

Darning eggs are hard to find at Trader Joe’s or even Whole Foods Market, and it may prove difficult for you, dear reader, to gather the proper ingredients in time for tomorrow’s feast. You may simplify things by substituting Saran-Wrap-like clear plastic film for the cellophane.

Here’s hoping that wrestling it out of the box and over the eggs is your biggest holiday battle.

P.S.: Anthony Bourdain’s signing for “Appetites: A Cookbook,” was last Wednesday, Nov. 16, at the Fairmont Hotel’s Tonga Room, a place he had once described as “the tackiest, weirdest, most perfect spot for imbibing on the planet.” KCBS Foodie Chap Liam Mayclem says most attendees got a kiss on the cheek from the author, but Roland Passot, La Folie chef-owner, got the one-two-three smooch treatment.

The nonprofit SPUR focuses on urban planning, and since the election was, in many ways, a bombardment of urban Americans, it wasn’t surprising that at the 2016 Silver SPUR Award luncheon on Thursday, Nov. 17, honoring Kimberly Bryant, Mark Buell, Ira Hirschfield and (posthumously) Rose Pak, the election would be mentioned. That’s an understatement. In a vast room at the Moscone Center, the emotional heart of every speech was a response to the vote.

“It’s up to all of us to stay engaged,” said Yat-Pang Au, CEO of Veritas Investments (which sponsored the luncheon; the Curran Theatre hosted the reception). The election “is a protest against many of the things we stand for in the Bay Area,” said Gabriel Metcalf, SPUR president and CEO. “We embrace radical diversity. ... Let’s make a Bay Area a haven” for immigrants and the persecuted. “It doesn’t matter what they’re fleeing. We can make more room.”

Honoree Bryant, founder of Black Girls Code, said her daughter’s decision to walk out of school to protest the election had shown her that the nonprofit had a bigger mission than encouraging girls in technology: “to teach these girls to lead.”

Civic leader Buell paid homage to his parents and “my progressive and passionate and very disappointed wife, Susie,” their children and their 11 grandchildren. Keeping their futures in mind, he said, “If anything happens that you don’t agree with, keep a pitchfork by your door. We’ve got to fight back.”

Gordon Chin, accepting the award for the late firebrand Pak, was in the same frame of mind. “There’s a fear in this city,” he said, “magnified by events of Nov. 8. Maybe we all need to channel a little bit of our inner Rose Pak.”

Later that day, at the annual Voices for Justice Human Rights Watch dinner, descriptions of the international projects of the nonprofit group — aimed at investigating, exposing and eliminating violations of human rights — were given alongside descriptions of its work in the United States, in criminal justice, immigration and national security, said U.S. program co-director Alison Parker.

“Misogyny, racism and xenophobia were ugly parts of Donald Trump’s campaign,” said HRW’s Bruno Ugarte. “We have to make sure that they do not define his presidency. The work of the human rights movement is needed now more than ever.” More than $500,000 was raised in a few minutes.

Susie Buell wore a safety pin (the post-election sign of support for minorities and possible victims of Trumpian policies) on her jacket. She talked about running into Ann Richards, just after Richards was beaten by George W. Bush in the Texas governor’s race. “Are you OK?” she asked Richards. “ ‘Hell, yes,’” Richards answered. “‘I’m not going to let it get me. If they get me, then they really won.’”

Leah Garchik washed up on the shores of Fifth and Mission in 1972, began her duties as a part-time temporary steno clerk, and ascended the journalistic ladder. Over the years, she has served as writer, reviewer, editor and columnist. She is the author of two books, “San Francisco: Its Sights and Secrets” and “Real Life Romance."

She is an avid knitter, a terrible accordion player, a sporadic tweeter and a pretty good speller.